With the widespread adoption of social networking, it may be useful for a user of a computing device to be able to find friends that are that are nearby, so that the user may be able to share pictures, videos, music, and other media from the user's computing device to the computing devices of nearby friends. Typical methods of determining if other computing devices are physically proximate of a computing device may include using global positioning system (GPS) coordinates or by setting the Bluetooth on a computing device to discovery mode. Determining if other computing devices are physically proximate of a computing device can also be useful in other applications, such as to detect proximity to inanimate objects, such as paintings, or such objects of value/interest.